This article discusses the shallowness of some book clubs, laments the TikTok book craze and generally takes a high-brow, hoity-toity view of the trailer trash that reads the books espoused by Reese Witherspoon, Dua Lipa and such.
"Titles are chosen for their improving messages, often tied to the admirable ethnic or sexual identity of the author. It is implicitly understood that no-one is allowed to be mean."
But I'm of the general view that the more people reading the better. The author laments the werewolf sex books and other trashy subgenres but fails to mention the not-so-deep romance book craze that took off in the 1970s and '80s. Thank you, Jackie Collins and Nora Roberts.
She fails to mention last century's detective noir I'm hooked on - Lawrence Block, Donald Westlake, Max Collins, Megan Abbot. Sex, booze and murder - not exactly Shakespeare, or is it? The best place to find these awesome books is at Hard Case Crime.
She also fails to mention Harry Potter. Wizards and black magic aren't exactly deep Tolstoy stuff either.
The point is: Every genre can look weird to somebody not into that subject matter. But if it gets them reading, gets their motor running, gets them hooked on phonics, maybe someday they'll move on to another genre that is even more interesting, like books by this guy.
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